Walk In The Park
by the-voiceless
Summary: Slowly, slowly, slowly Joel and Ellie begin to develop feelings for each other as they travel to Washington and as the months and seasons go by, they begin to realize that love is like a walk in the park. (JoelxEllie) pairing


Chapter 1:

Ellie was no one's daughter.

Absolutely no ones. Not even Joel.

At the moment he was tending to the campfire looking at the embers flying about like orange fireflies until disappearing into the cool night air. She gazed at him through the heat waves of the campfire as she sat across from him.

He mumbled," Get some sleep. Tomorrow is an all day hike. Gotta be through by sunset. No telling what's gon happen."

He threw another log," Get some shut eye, now."

Every day he would say that to her, all bark and no bite.

But instead of sleeping, she used this time to think.

She came from a world of poverty. A simple girl growing up in the apocalypse. Any other girl would have died attempting to make it this far. Zombies, bandits, smugglers, hunters, and cannibals outside of the zone. It was so far from the world that she grew up in. The world that she 'used' to belong to.

She was no longer that little girl Ellie, the one that had a brick walls as a home and soldiers as roommates.

She saw Ellie. The green eyed immune girl. The cure for all humanity.

Ellie was not the most successful survivor in the world, but she was far from the worst.

She knew to complain of her life was selfish. She had come so far from nothing. Really, she should be grateful that she had someone like Joel to protect her.

A picture came to her mind of her parents picking out the grime of their life like useless guts and other things between the ruts of this second life of the Apocalypse.

She 'use' to be someone's daughter.

She was a fool for thinking of living a normal teen life. May have well as been asking for the moon.

So after meeting numerous Clickers and Bloaters and danger and adrenaline, she decided then to embrace her new life. If Joel was to become her protector and lifetime companion, she would accept him.

He was brisk and often times rude, but always honest. From what she's heard from others like Tommy, he was a brave soldier in this world. He tried to save another man's life. His looks did not bother her, they only showed that he was strong to his convictions. It was a symbol of his strength.

If that strength sometimes came out as anger or abruptness, she told herself that she would treat it as if it came from a troubled dog. She had used that analogy in the past as she watched dumbstruck when he would reproach an uneasy person into tears or blood.

A dog does not bite someone he is fond of.

Joel was kind, to her anyways, in his own way. If she was careful, she would never give him reason to growl.

She went to sleep, dreaming of whimpering dogs.

**In the Morning**

The forest rang in chirps and tweeting conversation between reawakened birds around them but somehow both travelers were in their own world. Breakfast was small with only two cans of peaches. They had nothing to say to each other all morning. It had happened so often that Ellie was sure that it would be like this forever until they both die of old age or eaten and torn to shreds.

"I arranged a plan to settle a home somewhere north that will be to your liking," Joel said, picking up his glass and taking another sip.

"Great," she told him at last," So where is it?"

"Washington."

It seemed there would be no easy transition in this role. Ellie hardly knew what to say to him, but say something she must.

She must have remained silent too long because he took a look at her face and growled out gruffly, "Well?"

Silence loomed over her head and her tongue was stupidly still. She casted her mind for something to say.

"Peach pitts" she replied.

"What?"

Gulping she whispered," You told me that you would make do with anything, like peach pits and find them useful," she gave a small smile," You said you would throw them at someone, actually" she whispered, "Someone that you didn't like."

"That's an odd thing to say" he remarked.

"Yes. It is." she watched him drink and she gathered her courage to begin again.

"I was thinking that it was smart to know someone was resourceful enough to throw peach pitts."

He was still looking at her in puzzlement and mild annoyance.

"Are you saying that I displease you?" he replied, unamused," Perhaps you would like to throw peach pitts at me?"

I laughed. He smiled grimly.

"No. That's not what I am saying. I think that I'd like to be with a dude that would throw peach pitts. Such resourcefulness is refreshing. Invigorating."

"It is," he agreed, giving her a long stare that made her back tingle with cold.

**Later that Day**

Walking beside Joel in a lonely suburban neighborhood, Ellie held her hand out as it began to drizzle slightly. As the day had progressed slowly, both of them had traveled long and far just as Joel promised, and what a promise he kept! The hiking and non-stop walking had begun to tire her out fast. Especially with the encounter of Bloaters near the town park, they had just finished attending a Zombie funeral. Joel had thought it useful to give her an extra gun when they were forced to be social with the undead.

It had gone well of course, but because of this "forced" socialness, Joel was in a bad mood.

"It's raining" he said, scowling at the sky.

"It feels… lovely" she said.

"We'll get wet," he muttered. "All these houses are practically skeletons of house. Where is a damn roof when you need one? I don't pay kindly to getting soaked while those things are out there. Come on."

"I'm sure there's a basement that we can find" she soothed. "Look, over there, there's an old RV that doesn't look like it's going anywhere."

"Stay here," he ordered, "I don't want to have to find you too!"

She kept her position while he walked over to the RV.

It had been a month since the Fireflies had stopped looking for a cure and life with her friend had seemed to escalate with survival and endurance and an invisible bond that was slowly blooming. On some days she was glad that she didn't stay with the Fireflies. On some days she wished that they would both go back to Utah.

A month. Sometimes it seemed longer. Some days it seemed shorter. Ellie was always on a see-saw of emotional control when she was with Joel. Despite him being fond of her, there were hours where she was tempted to cry and smash things on the floor like a child. He could be a hard and demanding man.

Several times she had escaped to a neighboring apartment to seek her own advice away from the prying eyes and ears of Joel who was only to eager to prove his pedestal of control over her.

In her own solace, Ellie would have conversations with herself. She would tell herself to calm down and remind herself that she would need much patience to deal with Joel but in the end it would be worth it because he was a very generous man.

A generous partner.

The comic books he would give her were a symbol of this generosity.

"Here" he said coming back. "When I get a fire going, we'll be out of this mess for only tonight. Half of the RV is missing, damn it. So I found this," he held up an umbrella.

"It's only a little rain."

"Soon there will be a heavy thunderstorm from the looks of it," he said, scowling further, beckoning her underneath the small shelter of the umbrella. The umbrella above her loomed wide and big and it seemed cute that he would spare his warmth for her care.

"You're getting wet" she told him. He shrugged and then looked angrily out at the street, looking for other Clickers.

"I think you can relax. There's no one around."

Both settled into the RV. Ellie comfortably took the umbrella in her own hands. But Joel still stood outside with both hands on his rifles, not caring for the shelter.

"No. Can't afford to make a mistake especially in this goddamn weather."

"Can't we just hang loose tonight," she suggested.

"There is no room for mistakes when you go along with me. Ya hear?" he said firmly.

She withheld a sigh and looked around trying to maintain a cheerful aspect.

As a partner, she worked for him and with him every day. Every day she was in a terror of making a mistake. The biggest mistake was revealing her knowledge of Sarah. She had cast Sarah from her mind that day she learned of his intentions towards her when he decided to hand her to Tommy. It was a foolish child's dream that she could slowly take Joel to a place of happiness, instead of dwelling forever in the past where the ghost of his daughter would haunt him day and night.

Once they were both seated in the vehicle, he began to jerk off his jacket. It was wet from the rain. The water made it stick to his other clothes.

She thought of asking, but knew that she should help him without say a word. Earlier that morning, he hurt his arm by lifting a garage door and seemed to have sprained himself. Rendering his arm and entire shoulder almost useless. Sometimes it is better to approach the angry dog without apologizing first.

She reached over and pulled his jacket off. He gave her a look but she ignored him and calmly folded it on her lap.

Ellie thought that he was going to berate her about caring for herself and not worrying about him, but he did not. Perhaps it was because of her presence. He needed to stay strong for her, masking his own pain to keep them alive. It didn't make sense to her, because she knew that she was capable of caring for him too.

Both were strangely silent for a while. It was her own personal duty to engage in conversation with him but Joel was not a man to be forced into a talkative mood. She was glad for the respite. While he stared out his window, she turned inwards to her own thoughts.

They had been traveling for almost a year, and she's noticed that Joel's been more silent than ever. Usually he would talk to her about guitar lessons or swimming lessons or sports, but he's been keeping to himself.

But she was glad that they were traveling in this direction, she had not seen much of foliage and trees. She was happy at the change of scenery but unsure of the time spent alone with him. Since becoming her companion, he's been too busy fighting off Clickers, scouting someplace, leaving her alone at camp to guard his post and even distance himself when they'd walk side by side.

This meant that they had yet to talk about finding a home together.

She stole a look at his face.

"Joel…? Are you…finding us... a home?"

To be continued.


End file.
